Scissor lever with a pivotal link for shifting and tilting the mast on an industriallift truck



Oct. 6, 1964 QUAYLE 3,151,755

SCISSOR LEVER WITH A PIVOTAL LINK FOR SHIFTING AND TILTING THE MAST ONAN INDUSTRIAL LIFT TRUCK Filed May 31, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.GOQGc' F Qua YLE Ar ow/ r Oct. 6, 1964 G. F. QUAYLE 3,151,755

SCISSOR LEVER WITH A PIVOTAL LINK FOR SHIFTING AND TILTING THE MAST ONAN INDUSTRIAL LIFT TRUCK Filed May 51, 1961 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 \q 10 1 l19 v R. 660966 Quay:

Oct. 6, 1964 G. F. QUAYLE 3,151,755

SCISSOR LEVER WITH A PIVOTAL. LINK FOR SHIFTING AND TILTING THE MAST ONAN INDUSTRIAL LIFT TRUCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 31, 1961 Q Tic-k4-INVENTOR. G'oms QUAYLE United States Patent 3,151,755 SCISSOR LEVER W11H A PIVOTAL LmK FGR SHWTKNG AND TELTENG THE MAT 6N AN INDUSTRIAL LIFTTRUCK George F. Quayle, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor, by mesneassignments, to Yale & Towne, Inc, New York, N.Y., a company of OhioFiled May 31, 1961, Ser. No. 113,811 9 Claims. (Cl. 214-670) Thisinvention relates to an industrial lift truck of that type in which afork or other load lifting member is adapted to move inwardly andoutwardly relatively to the truck. This makes possible the movement ofthe load lifting fork into an extended or reach position in which thefork may lift a load that it could not otherwise handle. The loadlifting fork or member, once it engages the load, can retract the loadto a position toward or actually within the confines of the trucks sothat the irutk will be stable and may more effectively move the Mostfrequently, trucks of the particular type utilize conventional uprightsthat are mounted through bearings on rails or channels positionedlinearly of the truck. Through suitable linkage or direct thrust means,the uprights may he moved inwardly or outwardly on the rails or channelsrelatively to the truck, as those skilled in the art will appreciate.

In an arrangement of that kind, it is very important that the uprights,on which a conventional set of forks are usually mounted for verticalmovement, be adapted for tilting movement. Such tilting movement is verydimcult to obtain effectively because of the nature of the means usedfor moving the uprights inwardly and outwardly, and the nature of themeans used for mounting the forks for this inward and outward movement.

I have conceived by my invention a very novel and simple arrangementwhereby I am able to mount a pair of uprights for inward and outwardmovement relatively to a truck in combination with means for so movingthe uprights, while at the same time stabilizing the uprights andholding the uprights in any stabilized position, which position may be atilted position.

As a feature of my invention, 1 utilize a linkage mechanism for movingthe uprights outwardly and inwardly, with the uprights being preferablymounted on a hearing that will permit this movement, while at the sametime allowing a tilting movement of the uprights. My preferred and mosteffective arrangement provides a single roller type bearing for eachupright, that bearing moving in a channel. Obviously, the roller foreach upright will support that upright for movement inwardly andoutwardly of the truck, while allowing each upright to tilt on thebearing axis of the roller. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat while I have here set forth a very simple type of bearingarrangement, it is possible to use a more complex arrangement for movingthe uprights inwardly and outwardly and, at the same time, permittingthe tilting of the uprights.

For movin the uprights inwardly and outwardly, I prefer a linkagearrangement in the form of a pair of pivoting levers, which levers maytake a scissors form. Preferably, one of the levels of the scissors ispivoted to a fixed portion of the truck while the other end of theparticular lever slides relatively to the uprights. Similarly, the otherlever is pivotally and swingably connected to a moving upright whileslidingly connected to a fixed portion of the industrial truck. I havedeveloped, further, rather novel means for operating the scissorsrelatively to one another and for permitting the tilting of the uprightsrelatively to the scissors mechanism.

In the particular arrangement, I have conceived the EJ5135 5 FatentedGet. 6, 1964 feature of forming one of the scissors levers in two parts,which two parts are pivotally connected to one another and may functionas a single part when a hydraulic ram extending between the two parts isheld rigid. This hydraulic ram may be actuated to vary the relationshipbetween the two parts of the lever, thereby eflecting the tilting of themoving uprights.

I have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of myinvention in order that the detailed description thereof that followsmay be better understood, and in order that my contribution to the artmay be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features ofmy invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form thesubject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the conception on which my disclosure is based mayreadily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures forcarrying out the several purposes of my invention. It is important,therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalentconstructions as do not depart from the spirit and scope of myinvention, in order to prevent the appropriation of my invention bythose skilled in the art.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an industrial truck utilizing mynovel shifting uprights;

FIG. 2 is a front view showing parts of my invention that support theuprights;

FIG. 3 shows a side view of my invention;

FIG. 4 is like FIG. 3 but shows the uprights in an extreme inwardposition;

FIG. 5 illustrates somewhat diagrammatically the tilting of theuprights.

For the purpose of describing my invention, I show in FIG. 1 anindustrial truck 1% that is U-shaped, in effect bein constructed withtwo portions 11, 12 that are spaced so as to leave an opening 13extending through one side of the truck. The truck it; utilizes thenovel arrangement of my invention to support and to move an uprightassembly 14 relatively to the opening 13 on the truck. The uprightassembly 14 supports a pair of load lifting forks 15 for verticalmovement, and may have a conventional construction. As shown, assembly14 has an outer pair of primary uprights 15 on which slide an inner pairof secondary uprights 17, a fork carriage 18 in turn being mounted toslide vertically on secondary uprights 17. The details of the uprightassembly 14 are not actually important to an understanding of myinvention, and it is merely necessary to know here that there areuprights on which the forks 15 are mounted.

In the extremely novel concept of my invention, I support the uprightassembly 14 through a pair of simple hearings or rollers 19, best seenin FIG. 2. Each single roller 19 is mounted to rotate on a bracket 20,that bracket being welded to a corresponding primary upright 16 and to across member 21 extending between uprights 16, each roller in eifectsupporting one upright 16. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the brackets 29extend in a direction to place rollers 19 some distance behind theuprights 16.

The rollers 19 are engaged with a pair of horizontal rails or channels22, FIGS. 1 and 2, that are so mounted on the portions 11, 12 of thetruck as to extend along opposed sides of the opening 13. As best seenin FIGS. 3 and 4, one end of the channels 22 is arranged belowstructural frame members 23, 24 that connect the two truck portions 11and 12, enabling the channels to extend longitudinally between the sidesof the truck. In the particular arrangement, the rollers 1? will acceptthe entire weight of the upright assembly 14 and support the assemblydirectly on the truck, while allowing the uprights to slide inwardly andoutwardly relatively to the opening 13. When so sliding, the uprightassembly 14 can move to extreme inner and outer positions since therollers 19 actually may move on the channels 22 to each opposed side ofthe truck. It will be seen also that the rollers 1h are well adapted toallow tilting of assembly 14 about the roller axis. These things will bebetter appreciated as my description proceeds.

I further equip the truck 1% with a pair of vertical beams 25, FIG. 1,that are mounted in position at the rear or inner side of truck opening13, and that support a pair of scissors levers 26, 27. I may indicatethat lever 26 has opposed sides 26a, 26b mounted one on each beam 25,while lever 27 also has opposed sides 27a, 27b engaged one with eachbeam. However, the sides of each lever may be alike, and it will'be bestfor the purposes of my description to disregard the pmticular sides, andto refer in more general terms to each lever 26, 27 while consideringFIG. 3 of the drawings.

As is usual in scissors arrangements, levers 26, 27 are connected to oneanother through a pivot 23 at a medial point. The lever 27 is arelatively simple member, but in my invention the lever 26 has acompound construction including a relatively movable outer end part 29.In the form that I prefer, the part 29 is mounted to rotate about thepivot relatively to the remainder of lever 26. To conrol that rotation Iutilize a hydraulic ram that is pivoted between an arm 31 on lever 26and a bracket 32 on the part 29 of the lever. Normally, the ram 39 willbe hydraulically locked so that the part 29 cannot rotate, and we mayassume for the present that the lever 26 and its part 29 form a singlerigid lever.

The inner end of lever 26 is mounted on the vertical beams 25 through apivot 33 that is fixed to a bracket 34, as shown in FIG. 3, thereactually being one pivot 33 and bracket 34 on each beam 25 as will beunderstood. I utilize a pair of hydraulic rams 35, one of which is shownin FIG. 3, that act between brackets 36 on the beams 25 and bell-crankpivots 37 on lever 26 whereby to rotate that lever about pivots 33. Theinner end of lever 27 is equipped with rollers 33 sliding one in achannel 39 on each beam 25. On the outer end of lever 26, or in otherwords on its end part 29, there are rollers 40 that slide in channels 41on the primary uprights 16. The outer end of lever 27 is connectedthrough pivots 42 to relatively short links 43, one of which is shown inFIG. 3, these links in turn being mounted to rotate on pivots 44relatively to the primary uprights 16.

In the novel construction I have described, the levers 26, 27 may have asomewhat conventional scissors action that will be understood by personsskilled in the art. Thus, upon actuation of hydraulic rams 35, thelevers 26, 27 will move the upright assembly 14 inwardly or outwardlyrelatively to the truck. Also, the hydraulic rams 36 being rigid, thelevers 26, 27 will stabilize the uprights 14, holding them in aparticular angular relation to the truck.

However, in the novel concept of my invention, the levers 26, 27 willact in combination with the rollers 19 that support the upright assembly14. Actually, levers 26, 27 need not accept the weight of assembly 14because the short links 43 can rotate, leaving primary uprights 16 freein a vertical direction relatively to lever 27, while rollers 40 on link26 naturally are vertically free in channels 41. It is then possible todesign the scissors links 26, 27 without considering a problem ofvertical deflection. The truck actually will support the uprightassembly 14 through the rollers 19, so that there will be practically novertical deflection, and no loss of lift or vertical alignment of thelifting forks 15. That will be true regardless of the inward or outwardmovements of the upright assembly 14 on the rollers 19.

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Thus far, we have assumed that the hydraulic rams 36 were locked,holding the parts of lever 26 rigid. Let us now refer to FIG. 5 of thedrawings to see what happens when we actuate the rams 30. When thoserams rotate the lever part 29 about pivot 28 in a downward direction,that part 29 will act through the rollers 49 to tilt the uprightassembly 14 in one direction to a position that is shown for example indotted lines at Me. That tilting will take place about the axis ofrollers 19, those rollers at the same time moving inwardly to theposition 19a while the upper end of assembly 14 rotates on the shortlinks 43. Similarly, should rams 39 rotate the part 29 upwardly, theupright assembly 14 will be tilted in the opposed direction to theposition shown in dot and dash lines at 14b, for example, rollers 19then moving to position 1%. Thus, by actuating the rams 30, the personoperating the truck can tilt the upright assembly 14 either forwardly orrearwardly, as he may desire.

Moreover, he may do that when assembly 14 is in practically any inwardor outward position to which it may slide relatively to the truck. Itwill be seen also that the upright assembly 14 may be moved to anextreme forward position that is actually beyond the side of the truck,since the rollers 1 are arranged behind the assembly in a position thatenables them to remain engaged with the channels 22. In all cases, thetruck will directly support the upright assembly 14 through the rollers19, those rollers being extremely simple, well adapted to support theassembly for tilting movement, and arranged so that the assembly willhave practically no vertical deflection due to the load.

Those persons who are skilled in the industrial truck art will nowunderstand that I have conceived an arrangement that is extremelyeffective for the mounting and actuation of truck uprights, when thoseuprights must have inward and outward movement and also tilting movementrelatively to the truck. I believe, therefore, that the exceedinglynovel contribution of my invention will be fully appreciated.

I now claim:

1. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, scissors levers pivoted to afixed part of the truck and to the uprights and stabilizing the uprightsrelatively to the truck, a hydraulic ram for actuating said scissorslevers to move the uprights inwardly and outwardly relatively to thetruck, a part of one of said scissors levers pivoted to a further partof said one lever, and a hydraulic ram for rotating said lever partsrelatively to one an other whereby to tilt the uprights and load memberrelatively to the truck.

2. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, scissors levers extendingbetween a fixed part of the truck and the uprights, means of connectionthrough which said scissors levers stabilize the uprights relatively tothe truck while leaving the uprights free for substantially. verticalmovement relatively to the truck, bearing means supporting the uprightson the truck, and said means of connection enabling the truck to acceptdirectly through said bearing means the weight of the scissors levers sothat said uprights will not deflect under load while stabilizing theuprights.

3. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, scissors levers extendingbetween a fixed part of the truck and the uprights and acting tostabilize the uprights relatively to the truck, a substantiallyhorizontal link through which said scissors levers act and adapted torotate so as to leave the uprights free for vertical movement relativelyto the truck, bearing means supporting the uprights on the truck, andsaid link enabhng the truck to accept directly through said bearingmeans the weight of the uprights so that said uprights will not deflectunder load.

4. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, a roller bearing supporting eachuprighht for sliding movement on the truck and also for pivotal movementof the axis of the roller bearing, a series of levers connectedindependently of said bearings to the truck and to the uprights andstabilizing the uprights on said bearings means actuating the series oflevers whereby to slide the uprights inwardly and outwardly relativelyto the truck, a part of said levers movable independently of theactuation of the series of levers, and means for moving said part of thelevers to tilt the uprights and load member relatively to the truck.

5. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, roller bearings arranged in acommon axis and supporting said uprights for sliding movement on thetruck, said uprights being adapted for pivotal movement on the commonbearing axis, scissors levers extending between the truck and uprightsand controlling pivoting of the uprights to stabilize said uprights onsaid bearing axis, means for rotating the scissors levers whereby toslide the uprights inwardly and outwardly relatively to the truck, apart of said levers rotatable independently of the rotation of thelevers by said means, and means for rotating said part of the levers totilt the uprights and load member relatively to the truck.

6. In a truck of the class described, a pair of uprights on which a loadmember is mounted for lifting movement, a pair of rails extendinglongitudinally on the truck, a pair of roller bearings arranged in acommon axis on the uprights and engaged with said pair or" rails tosupport said uprights relatively to the truck, a pair of scissors leversextending between a fixed part of the truck and the uprights andstabilizing said uprights on said bearings relatively to the truck, ahydraulic ram for rotating the scissors levers to slide the uprightsinwardly and outwardly on said rails relatively to the truck, a part ofone of said levers pivoted to a further part of that lever, a hydraulicram for rotating said lever parts relatively to one another to rotatethe uprights on the common axis of their bearings whereby to tilt theuprights and load member, and a substantially horizontal link extendingbetween the other of said pair of scissors levers and the uprights andallowing said uprights to have a substantially vertical movementrelatively to said levers, whereby said levers need not accept theweight of the uprights and the truck will support the uprights throughthe bearings with substantially no deflection regardless of thepositions to which the uprights slide and tilt relatively to the truck.

7. In a truck of the class described, a main frame, a pair of uprights,a load carriage mounted for lifting movement on said pair of uprights,means mounting said uprights for bodily sliding movement in a lineardirection on said main frame, said mounting means being formed to permitpivotal bodily tilting movement of said uprights and load carriagerelatively to said mounting means in substantially all linear positionsof the uprights relatively to the truck, a leverage system connectedindependently of said upright mounting means to the main frame and tosaid uprights, means for actuating said leverage system in one manner tomove said uprights and carriage linearly relatively to the truck, andmeans for actuating said leverage system in a different manner to tiltsaid uprights and load carriage while said uprights and carriage aresupported through said mounting means relatively to the truck.

8. In a truck of the class described, a main frame, a pair of uprights,a load carriage mounted for lifting movement on said pair of uprights,means mounting said uprights for bodily sliding movement in a lineardirection on said main frame, said mounting means being formed to permitpivotal bodily tilting movement of said uprights and load carriagerelatively to said mounting means in substantially all linear positionsof the uprights relatively to the truck, a leverage system connectedindependently of said upright mounting means to the main frame and tosaid uprights, means for moving levers in said system in a pivotalrelation to each other to move said uprights linearly relatively to thetruck, and means for moving said levers in a different pivotal relationto tilt the uprights and load carriage while said uprights and carriageare supported through said mounting means relatively to the truck.

9. In a truck of the class described, a main frame, a pair of uprights,a load carriage mounted for vertical lifting movement on said uprights,a roller mounted on a bottom portion of each upright and engaged withthe main frame to mount said uprights for bodily sliding movement in alinear direction relatively to the truck, said rollers permitting saiduprights and load carriage to pivot bodily in the roller axis so as totilt relatively to the main frame in substantially all linear positionsof the uprights relatively to the truck, a leverage system connectedindependently of said rollers to an upper portion of said main frame andto an upper portion of said uprights for stabilizing said uprights andholding them vertical in all of the linear positions of said uprights,means for actuating said leverage system to move said uprights andcarriage linearly relatively to the truck, and means for changing therelation between portions of said leverage system to tilt the uprightsand load carriage while said uprights are supported through their bottomrollers on the truck.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,092,663 Bach Sept. 7, 1937 2,126,289 Schroeder Aug. 9, 1938 2,320,601Howell -June 1, 1943 2,621,811 Lull Dec. 16, 1952 2,667,985 WoughterFeb. 2, 1954 2,752,058 Gibson a June 26, 1956 2,828,879 Arnot Apr. 1,1958 2,975,923 Ulinski Mar. 21, 1961 2,998,891 Bauer et al. Sept. 5,1961 3,013,011 Ackermann Jan. 23, 1962 3,031,091 Erickson et al. Apr.24, 1962

1. IN A TRUCK OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED, A PAIR OF UPRIGHTS ON WHICH A LOADMEMBER IS MOUNTED FOR LIFTING MOVEMENT, SCISSORS LEVERS PIVOTED TO AFIXED PART OF THE TRUCK AND TO THE UPRIGHTS AND STABILIZING THE UPRIGHTSRELATIVELY TO THE TRUCK, A HYDRAULIC RAM FOR ACTUATING SAID SCISSORSLEVERS TO MOVE THE UPRIGHTS INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY RELATIVELY TO THETRUCK, A PART OF ONE OF SAID SCISSORS LEVERS PIVOTED TO A FURTHER PARTOF SAID ONE LEVER, AND A HYDRAULIC RAM FOR ROTATING SAID LEVER PARTSRELATIVELY TO ONE ANOTHER WHEREBY TO TILT THE UPRIGHTS AND LOAD MEMBERRELATIVELY TO THE TRUCK.